Working With The Funzi Turtle Club (Day 1)
Category: Community Conservation, Environmental Education, Funzi turtle club, Mangroves, Turtles | Date: Nov 10 2009 | By: gvikenya
This past Wednesday found the GVI marine team travelling from Wasini Island to Funzi Island for two days of training with the Funzi Bay Turtle Club, a local community effort to save endangered sea turtles. Currently there are about 30 members in the club, 20 of which, including the chair, are females from this traditional Muslim community on the island.
Since we usually spend our days on the water monitoring local and migratory marine species, to have two full days on dry land was quite a change of routine.
Douglas explaining the importance of sea turtle conservation
Upon arrival, we were met by one of the club members and taken to our house, where we met up with KESCOM volunteers Sonya and Avidad from Sweden, here for three months. KESCOM (Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee) currently supports many grass-root turtle conservation efforts along the Kenyan coastline. This support comes in the form of monetary donations, grant writing, providing volunteers, management and contacts with other local organizations. Douglas is the KESCOM Funzi Island representative.
Jennifer LeClair giving the presentatoin about whales and dolphins
After our introductions we proceeded to the village for a tour and to the mangrove forest for a planting session. Since mangroves are among the fastest disappearing ecosystems in the world, each tree really counts! The turtle club also runs a shop with some very unique gifts made by local community members, and we all spend some time and money there.
Following a fabulous meal cooked by the ladies of the turtle club (one of many such delicious meals) we began our training with the group. Our goal was to help the club members learn to interact with tourists and to give them information that tourists would like to hear, in addition to giving them important information about habitat conservation. We showed a number of PowerPoint presentations to the group and with the help of Douglas on the Swahili translation, gave them information about ocean conservation, sea turtle identification and morphology, and local whale and dolphin species. Club members were extremely interested in learning and asked a number of thought provoking questions following each presentation.
Mangroves
One of the most common questions asked by the community members was how to explain to the other islanders (100% of which are fishermen) topics regarding conservation of the ocean environment. We were able to provide some examples, but in the end had to explain that changing people’s minds is a very slow process. Since entanglement in discarded fishing nets is one of the biggest threats to marine animals, we suggested that this was a good issue to start with in the community. We were very impressed with the concern of the club members about the welfare of the ocean habitats and animals, especially in an area of the country where ecosystem destruction and human disturbance is prevalent.
Overall, both sides seemed very pleased with the progress made during the first day of training. The volunteers of GVI would like to thank KESCOM and the Funzi Bay Turtle Club for there generous hospitality and delicious traditional food.
Mangroves of Funzi Island
Tags: , change of routine, club members, dolphin species, ecosystem destruction, endangered seas turtles, entanglement in disgarded fishing nets, funzi bay, Funzi Island, Funzi Tirtle Club, grant writing, grass0roots turlte conservatoin, human disturbance, Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee, Kenyan coastline, KESCOM, local community members, local marine species, local organisations, mangrove ecosystems, migratory marine species, monetary donations, morphology, ocean conservation, ocean environment, powerpoint presentations, sea turtle identification, swahili translations, thought provoking questions, threats to marine mammals, tourists, traditional Muslim community, turtle club, unique gifts, volunteers, wasini island, whale species
New Arrivals To The GVI Kenya Team
Category: National Scholarship Programme | Date: May 12 2009 | By: gvikenya
At the weekend we welcomed 6 new members joinng our research and community development programmes, volunteering their time, enthusiasm and hard-work:
Left to right: Merijn, Kennedy, Muffadal, Karen, Deepa and James
Merijn has joined us for 5 weeks from the Netherlands, where he usually spends his days designing computer games… he’s started his real-life GVI Kenya adventure with great enthusiasm and being named after a hobbit (in Dutch, of course) we reckon he’ll feel right at home in our coastal forest and the rural communities we live and work with!
Kennedy is volunteering with us for 5 weeks under our National Scholarship Programme, to gain more experience in wildlife research and conservation to compliment his studies. Coming from Nairobi, he is undertaking a degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development at Kenyatta University having already completed his diploma in Environmental Management at Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.
Muffadal is a student at Moi University in Nairobi pursuing a Tourism Management degree, having also graduated with a diploma in the subject from Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute. He will be with for a total 12 weeks for his industrial attachment under our National Scholarship Programme and is excited to learn about and experience some of Kenya’s finest marine habitats and wildlife during his time with us, particularly the dolphin populations and their relationship with coastal tourism.
Karen joins us for 5 weeks from the UK. Having studied for a biology degree in Glasgow, she has been ’sidetracked’ for the last few years by a job in investment banking in London… but it seems she’s seen the light and is getting back to her biology roots before launching in to a new career. With this in mind she also has an interest in the community education work we do.
Deepa is also from Nairobi, but has been working in investment banking in London as well, having studied in Brighton and Reading in the UK. She joins us for 5 weeks having recently got married and moved back to Kenya where she hopes on moving in to financial management within the NGO sector. We hope that the exposure she will have to a wide range of environmental and community development projects will give her valuable experience and insights.
And finally, James from Hull in the UK will be with us for 5 weeks, while undertaking a BTEC qualification in Supervising Biological Surveys. Having already volunteered in Zimbabwe on lion rehabilitation, James should take to our wildlife research in Kenya with ease.
We hope you’ll get to hear more from them over the next 5 weeks…
Bye for now, from a particularly wet and windy patch of the Kenyan coast!
Corti
Tags: kenyan students, National Scholarship Programme, volunteers
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